Zone of the Eds
by SilverThorn-2000
Summary: The Eds get caught up a mecha adventure. Read & Review, please!
1. Chapter 1

Zone of the Eds  
  
An Ed, Edd n Eddy mecha Fanfiction  
  
Written by SilverThorn2000  
  
----  
  
"Ami! You've got to go!" Ami Weston's father shouted at her. "No! I don't want to!"  
  
"Ami, you're our last hope! Please! Get on the ship!" Her father shoved her into the cold sleep capsule. "Dad! No! Please!"  
  
Her father turned away, and the hatch shut. She felt the chill of the cryogenic suspension fluid welling up around her. Her tears froze instantly on her cheeks, the saline hardening as the cold robbed her of consciousness.  
  
The massive carrier launched from her homeworld, headed across the cosmos in it's mission to stave off the inevitable, and save other worlds from the destruction that faced her world now.  
  
Behind her, a great darkness swept over her world, and then, there was nothing.  
  
----  
  
Four months later:  
  
Eddy Sterling strode out of the new arcade, grumbling. It felt like all he'd done was waste his playing fee. Custom Mekton was a great game, and it allowed you to customize your own mech, but Eddy felt like he could never win at it.  
  
And given that he kept loosing to Kevin only made him angrier.  
  
"Oh, come on, Eddy. It's just a game!" Double D called to him, emerging from the door. Eddy spun back around. "I'm sick of loosing!" He snapped, burying his head in his hand.  
  
"I know what will cheer Eddy up, Double D!" Ed yammered happily. "A chicken!" Double D sighed.  
  
"NO!" Eddy fumed, "No chickens! No more loosing! You hear me? No more loosing!" Double D sighed. His shorter friend had a habit of being a sore looser. "Eddy, everyone looses sometime!"  
  
"But not all the time! Not like us! It seems like nothing goes our way!" Eddy slammed his fist into the brick wall. Double D sighed, and simply stared. "We'll get there eventually, Eddy. Just be patient!"  
  
"Be patient? BE PATIENT? How can I be patient when I can't win?!? Huh? Do you have an answer for that, Mr. Wizard?" Eddy spun around, and pointed his finger at Double D, who summarily backed away.  
  
"Now, Eddy, you know violence doesn't solve anything-" Double D looked up, and saw something descending towards the junkyard.  
  
"What on Earth?" He asked softly, and Eddy followed his gaze. Ed watched it with an ear-to-ear grin. "It's an alien star cruiser, sent here to deliver Captain Amazo from the death of his world!"  
  
Double D sighed. "Ed, I'm sure there's a more rational explanation than that. Come along, gentlemen." Edd walked off, Ed close on his heels. "I hate my life." Eddy muttered before sulking off behind them.  
  
----  
  
Edward "Double D" Hunter stared at the sight. It turned out to be an alien spaceship, but not like the one Ed had anticipated. It was much larger than the capsule that had appeared in Ed's Captain Amazo comics.  
  
He strode around it, looking for an entrance, wondering how it was possible that this thing could've even been airborne. It wasn't aerodynamic in the least...  
  
He looked, and saw something: There was lettering on the side. He read it slowly:  
  
"Polaris?"  
  
Eddy looked at him. "What?" Double D pointed to the word painted on the ship's side. "Polaris, Eddy." Eddy looked, then shrugged. "So?" Double D sighed. "Polaris is a star, Eddy. This craft is clearly human-made. It's the human designation for a star in the little dipper constellation."  
  
Eddy sighed. "So, where's the door?"  
  
"Found it! Ha, ha, ha!" Ed's laughter echoed as he walked through the door.  
  
"Ed! Wait!" his friends cried out together.  
  
----  
  
Ed Wolff stood before the open corridor into the depths of the ship. His friends swiftly ran up beside him. "Hello, Double D. Hello, Eddy. We can go in, now."  
  
"Ed! There may be some unknown kind of disease on this ship! We can't just-"Double D was cut off as his two friends strode down the corridor. "Why do I even bother to try?" he asked the empty air as he followed carefully.  
  
It was eerie. There was nobody on board. The ship was deserted, and empty. No cargo. Nothing in the forward launch bays. Nobody on the bridge. The three boys had been searching for over an hour, Double D was sure, but they'd found nothing. As Eddy had said, "It's definitely a case of lights being on but nobody being home."  
  
It gave all three of them the creeps. They finally strode into one room next to the engine room, and the sight took their breaths away.  
  
----  
  
Double D knocked on the vertical tube, wondering how such a feat was possible. Cryogenically preserving someone wasn't a possibility. Such processes caused massive cellular damage upon resuscitation.  
  
Nonetheless, here was a girl their age, frozen solid in a vertical column. It looked very much like she didn't want to be frozen in there, and Double D was wondering exactly what happened. Eddy strode around the room, looking for some trace of an answer, while Ed placed his hand over the girl's. "I think she wants out, Double D."  
  
Eddy sighed. "We heard you the first time, monobrow." He glanced around one more time, before a dull green and red glittering caught his eye. "Hey, sockhead, I found something. Come over here, will you?"  
  
Double D walked over and looked. "I think it's the control panel to the freeze cell. Yes, here we are, the thaw sequence..." The lean boy's voice trailed off as he pressed the lit display that read, "Thaw".  
  
The result was immediate, as the room grew much warmer than it had been. All three boys fixed their eyes on the cell, as the liquid from it drained, and color slowly returned to the pale form of the girl.  
  
She began to frantically pound on the cell's glass barrier, and Ed reached out a massive hand and placed it on the now-warm glass. The girl's motions slowed, then, almost awkwardly, stopped. She looked at Ed for a long moment, then placed her hand on his, and looked at him. Her shoulders shook, and fresh tears slid down her face as she began to cry.  
  
Ed's eyes watered in sympathy, and the girl smiled sadly as the glass descended into the floor, opening the cell and allowing her to leave.  
  
"Thank you," the girl whispered, before she collapsed into Ed's arms with a sob.  
  
----  
  
The girl sat in the ship's lounge, huddled under a blanket, her head on Ed's shoulder, still sniffling. Eddy couldn't decide whether to chalk her sniffling up to her half-hour sobfest or the cryo cell. His mind finally settled on it being a combination of the two, and sighed. She'd not said one word to them since she'd fallen into Ed's arms and began bawling.  
  
"Well, I suppose we'd better start with introductions," Double D began. The girl looked at him, tears still fresh in her eyes. "I'm Edward Hunter, but you can call me Double D. Everyone else does." She nodded, and smiled her sad little smile. "This," Edd continued, "Is Eddy Sterling." Eddy waved once, and the girl nodded. "And that's Ed Wolff, the young man you're leaning on." She smiled up at Ed, and Ed smiled back happily.  
  
"I'm in my happy place, guys!" The girl giggled, and Double D inwardly sighed. At least they seemed to be able to snap the poor thing out of her fugue. She spoke up, this time much stronger than the last time they'd heard her. "I'm Ami. Ami Weston."  
  
"So, Ami, how'd you get here?" Eddy asked. "That's our Eddy, master of the direct approach," Edd sighed from his chair. Ami sighed. "My dad shoved me into the cold sleep capsule when the Hive was about to destroy our world. He set the ship on a random hyperspace vector to keep them unawares of his final destination. He never told me where that destination would be. All I know is that the hive swarmed over my homeworld like a plague...and now, it's probably gone...."  
  
The boys sat in shocked silence for a long moment. "I can hear the dead still, Eddy," Ed piped up, breaking the silence. "What?" Eddy asked Ed, believing the tall boy had finally gone all the way around the bend. "I can still hear the dead, Eddy. Just like Fang Zhaarnak in the book!" Eddy stared at Ed incredulously for a long moment before asking one question: "What book?"  
  
Ed reached down, the motion shifting poor Ami around slightly as his hand dug around in his coat pocket before it finally emerged, holding a slightly worn paperback novel in it. Double D took the book from his friend's hand and looked at the cover.  
  
It was exactly the type of thing one would expect Ed to read, Edd thought from the slightly faded picture depicting a large star-faring fleet annihilating an entire planet. He looked at the title. "The Shiva Option?" Eddy read aloud over his shoulder. "Looks like a good read," Eddy continued after a moment. "I'll have to borrow it when you're finished."  
  
"Oh, no, Eddy," Ed said as he dug in his other pocket, before producing three other books. "You have to read these first." Eddy took the offered books and looked at them. "Insurrection, Crusade, In Death Ground?" Eddy asked aloud, before turning back to Ed. "Ah, thanks, big guy." Ed nodded happily, and Ami smiled on his shoulder. She at least seemed to be warming up to them.  
  
Double D laughed softly and looked over at Ami. "Anything we can get you?" He asked softly. "No, thank you, Double D. I'm okay for now, but I'm going to need somewhere to sleep. And a crew to help me stop the Hive. And something containing mecha structural data..." Her voice trailed off. Ed held up his Custom Mekton disk. "Like this?" He asked happily.  
  
She took the disk and turned it over in her hands. "What's this?" Double D smiled as Eddy laughed. "It's a Custom Mekton disk," he said, grinning at Ed, "It's for a game in which a player makes a mech and uses it to do battle. So, in essence, it could be said to contain mecha structural data. But one has to be able to understand the CM Construction Computer Code to know exactly what it means."  
  
Ami looked at the disk for a long moment. "Maybe the computer will be able to decipher it," she said after a moment, standing up and leaving the lounge. The Eds scrambled after her.  
  
She strode into the forward bay, finally stopping in front of what Double D had assumed to be a crane control. She slid the disk in, and checked the readout. Double D glanced over her shoulder as she let out a shout of triumph. "Yes! It can read them!"  
  
The bay whirred to life, and Ami turned. "Nano-Industrial facility. It'll build mecha from material stores kept in the ship. Ed's mech is being built as we speak," she pressed another two buttons, and the whirr rose in pitch, "As is mine. You two have these disks too, I assume?"  
  
The two boys nodded, and promptly surrendered their disks. Ami slotted them in, and the whirr doubled in pitch, becoming nearly unbearable. Ami shooed the boys from the hangar, and shut the hatch behind them.  
  
"Ugh, I hate that noise..." She muttered. "Well, you just became my crew, and we have the mechs, so that leaves sleeping arrangements."  
  
"I've got a guest bedroom she can crash in for tonight..." Eddy piped up. Double D blinked. "What? It's not Jake's room I'm talking about. The one down the hall from my parents is a guest room. We just don't use it much."  
  
"Jake?" Ami asked. Ed laughed. "Eddy's brother who got sent to military school for wrecking his parent's car." "Actually, he's in college now, lumpy." Eddy snapped bitterly. "And he rarely writes or calls anymore."  
  
"Well, college is a busy time of life, Eddy." Double D said, patting his stocky friend on the shoulder. "I guess I'll crash at Eddy's place. We'll talk more about my past tomorrow."  
  
The boys nodded. They'd been here for nearly four hours, and their parents were bound to start wondering before too long. That thought snapped something into Double D's head. "Eddy, how do you intend to sneak her past your parents?"  
  
"They're off visiting Jake. Won't be back until tomorrow night. I'll think of something by then. Heck, I could probably tell my dad the truth and he'd believe it. He loves that old RoboTech show so much, he'd probably help." Eddy grinned, and laughed at the thought.  
  
Ami shook her head. "Whatever. Let's just go get some rest."  
  
"But you just woke up!" Ed cried out. Ami shook her head. "I'll be fine, Ed. Trust me."  
  



	2. Chapter 2

Ami bolted dead upright in bed, gasping for air. She supressed the scream building in her lungs and pulled the sheet up to her collarbone. The dark night flooded in through her window and she stared at the distant stars.  
  
She couldn't help it, the ghosts of her family coming back to haunt her. She felt the guilt of being the sole survivor. It felt as though she now had to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders.  
  
Part of her knew that was ridiculous, but she still got the feeling that it was her destiny. She felt sick; she felt like a hero. Part of her wanted to die, to be free of her ghosts, but part of her wanted to live, if only for her new-found friends.  
  
The door creaked open, and Eddy's head poked in. "Hey, are you okay? I heard you thumping around up here." The short boy's eyes were squinted from the hall light's glare, and she sighed. "Just a nightmare. Just....the past coming back to haunt me."  
  
"Your parents?" Eddy asked softly. "I know the feeling. I had those kind of dreams when my brother left." Ami stared at him, then nodded. "But your brother can come back. My parents can't."  
  
"I guess that is an important difference." Eddy sighed, and then spoke again. "Well, I'm going back to bed. I'll see you in the morning." The door squeaked shut. Ami sighed in the depths of the darkness.  
  
----  
  
The sun shown down through the window and into Ami's eye, causing her to blink her eyes. She stared at the window for a long moment, the realization that she'd fallen asleep slowly bubbling to the surface.  
  
"I guess that talk with Eddy really did help." She said. She sat up, taking an involuntary sniff of the air. Something was cooking; she smelt it on the air. It was a soft, almost buttery smell. She slid out from beneath the covers and softly walked down the stairs.  
  
The kitchen looked like a minor disaster area. Eddy stood on a stool, flipping something over in a frying pan. Double D and Ed sat at the table. "Morning, Ami!" Double D greeted her happily. Ed smiled softly and waved.  
  
She waved back, and stared at Eddy. "You've not lived until you've had one of my omelets!" He said with a sharp grin, flipping the omelet once more before dividing it into four equal pieces.  
  
She sat down, and Eddy served them. It was surprisingly good, this "Omelet". She smiled and thanked Eddy graciously. "So, when do we get our mechs?" Double D asked.  
  
"A couple hours at most. I need to shower and change first."  
  
Double D grinned, and Ed laughed happily.  
  
"After that, maybe we can think about taking a sneak peak at the Hive's forces and disposition." The Eds nodded, and continued eating.  
  
----  
  
Ami had chosen a rather pleasant sky blue t-shirt and blue jeans to wear that day, as the Eds tromped to the Polaris.  
  
"It will be an educational experience to actually pilot our mechs." Double D said during the short hike to the starship. Ami nodded. "It can be...intimidating if you've never piloted one before. But you get used to it pretty quickly." Double D nodded in understanding. "Sounds like very sage advice to me."  
  
Ed, meanwhile, was running all over the place, making sound effects and saying things like "The brave space outlaw attacks the evil mutant cyborgs!" Ami giggled softly at this behavior, and Eddy sighed. "Hard to believe he's housebroken."  
  
Double D stopped for a moment, then jogged to catch up with his friends. "Excuse me for bringing this up, but it occurs to me that we may need the other's help."  
  
"Why?" Eddy asked, suddenly irritable. "So Kevin can show us up? Get real, Double D." Double D frowned. "But, Eddy, what happens if this Hive is more than the four of us can handle?"  
  
"We die fighting! I don't care!" Eddy took one step towards Edd, but Ami quickly intervened. "Look, you two. I'll tell you what. We'll see exactly what the Hive is bringing to bear, then we'll discuss whether or not the 'others' are needed, okay?"  
  
"Sounds reasonable to me," Edd said happily, "What do you think, Eddy?" Eddy only grumbled his agreement. Ami sighed, relieved to have diverted what could have been a major disaster.  
  
----  
  
The bay was much fuller with four mechs inhabiting it. The massive machines of war stood, ready to be used. Eddy's transformable fighter, the EV-29 X Guardian, was the closest to the exit.  
  
Double D's swift Starborn stood next to the Guardian, it's crystalline force projectors swept back in a shape reminiscent of an angel's wing. Lines of power swept over them, and the unit hovered a few inches off the ground.  
  
Ed's Warhawk stood, it's twin beam cannons folded back over it's shoulders. In it's right hand was the beam rifle it used to mow down Ed's opponets. It wasn't the swiftest, but it was the strongest by far.  
  
Ami's mech was simplistic, reminding Double D almost of the mass-produced mobile suits from the various Gundam animes he'd watched. She laid her hand on it and smiled. "Crufix..." She said softly, almost fondly.  
  
Eddy frowned. There were no obvious weapons, no apparent method of thrust... "So, how exactly does that work?" Eddy asked her after a long moment of internal debate.  
  
"It's weapons and flight systems are internal. It'll work, you wait and see." She ran her hand over Crufix's smooth surface one more time, and then turned to go. "Come on, let's get to the bridge and lift off."  
  
----  
  
The Polaris slid easily out of Earth's gravity and into space. ("Contra- gravity drive system," Ami told the Eds.) Double D sighed as he manned the sensor console. Ami had, quite miraculously, gotten Ed to sit and stay quiet. Eddy sat, running through the various turret cameras out of sheer boredom. Ami sat, staring out the bridge's viewport.  
  
She sighed, and looked. The ship was well past the asteroid belt, and closed rapidly on the outer system. "All right, Eddy. Slow us down, and we'll take a reconnoiter." Eddy grinned. "Guardian, here I come!"  
  
Double D laughed and leaned back, the chair creaking with the motion. "So we actually get to pilot them now?" He asked, and Ami nodded. "Mecha fun!" Ed yelled from his seat. Ami winced at the sound, and smiled. "Yeah. Come on, let's suit up."  
  
----  
  
Aside from some minor complications starting Eddy's Guardian, everything was going smoothly. "I don't get it," Eddy gumbled over the comm line. "Why are we go so far out from the ship?"  
  
"Because it's the last one of it's kind. We can't afford to loose it. Besides, depending on what we see, we might be running." Ami's response was terse, to the point. Double D sighed. It was going to be a long flight.  
  
Ed glanced down at the long-range sensors. There was a lot of red there. A whole lot of it. "Uh, Eddy? I think my scanners are broken." "What're you talking about, monobrow?" Eddy snapped, then glanced down at his own sensors.  
  
"Ed, they aren't broken. I've got the same thing," Double D said. "Me too," Ami piped up. Eddy hit the brakes and stared. "I've got visual. Guys? We're gonna need the others."  
  
Eddy spun his fighter around and ran. "Let's get outta here!"  
  
----  
  
Double D sat and stared at the recording. "Well, we're vastly out numbered, out gunned, and with small chance of success, even with the others." Edd spun to face his comrades. "We're going to need to keep researching newer techs to keep ahead of the hive forces."  
  
Ami nodded. "Let's get back to Earth, and get the others," She ordered, staring at the screen full of gleaming chrome silhouetted in the darkness of space. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
  
Kevin Gloval was angry beyond rational words.  
  
It wasn't for all the normal reasons. The Eds hadn't tried scamming the kids. They hadn't sold him a faux bike, or bricked up his house.  
  
It was because Ed had just darted into the arcade, picked him up, and ran out. With the rest of the kids in hot pursuit, no less.  
  
"You have five seconds to put me down, dork." Kevin's threat apparently didn't faze Ed at all, as the tall boy kept running, hanging on to him as he hauled butt in the direction of the Junkyard.  
  
"This is _not_ cool, Mr. Ed!" Nazz called from several yards behind. Kevin could make out the shape of Rolf, who carried a very worn-looking Jimmy in his arms. "Fate of the world! Importants!" Ed called out, still running. "Rolf would like to know what qualifies as fate of the world, Ed-boy!" Came the foreign boy's voice from the background.  
  
Ed laughed and kept running his grin growing as the shape of the Polaris grew in front of him.  
  
----  
  
"What's keeping him?" Ami asked. Double D shrugged, while Eddy murmured "Probably got lost."  
  
"Eddy! I am astounded at your lack of faith in Ed's skill! Why, I'm sure he's-"Double D found his rant cut off as Ed ran full-speed through the door to the oversized briefing room, Kevin in hand, and everybody else snapping at his heels like Ed's so-called 'hounds from Hades'.  
  
"Brought the kids, Double D!" Ed said, dropping Kevin into a chair. "I didn't mean to bring them like this!" Double D protested, while Eddy sighed. "Gentlemen, prepare for a beating..." the short boy said, frowning at the sight of the rather irate neighborhood kids.  
  
"What's going on?" Ami asked, watching the kids close in on her friends. Kevin stood up and joined the crowd. "That's what we'd like to know!" He snapped, his hands balling into fists. Ami sighed. There was one in every crowd; who considered violence an excellent means of getting an answer to their questions.  
  
"Computer, Rig for red, authorization Ami One, One Alpha, Two Bravo, Three." The lights blacked out, only to be replaced by the dull red emergency lights. The klaxon roared in the sudden silence, causing the Eds to look at her, and the kids to start looking around.  
  
"I assume I've got everyone's attention?" Ami asked incredulously as the kids glanced at her, the question above the roar of the klaxons. "Sit down, and you'll find out why you're here." The kids sat.  
  
"Computer, abort rig-for-red, authorization Ami Bravo Uniform Tango Nine Delta." Ami spoke out loud. The klaxons died, and the normal lights came back up. "General quarters alert canceled. Crew may now stand down from battlestations." Was the automated response as the lights finished coming back up.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen, plus the sadist in the red baseball cap-" Ami began, ignoring Kevin's shouted "Hey!" at her remark. "You are here because the boys, the Eds, as you call them, seem to feel you may be of some help to us. I assume you all play this 'Custom Mekton' game that they've told me about?"  
  
"What's that got to do with anything?" Sarah snapped impatiently. Ami glared, reaching out with her mind, grasping the eraser on the room's podium, and flinging it in the redhead's direction. It bounced off Sarah's forehead with a solid whack.  
  
"Don't interrupt the Esper, Sarah. We learned that the hard way over breakfast," Double D sighed, as Sarah blinked. "Esper?" Sarah asked curiously. "May I continue, or should I go get the cutlery again?" Ami growled, prompting silence in the large room.  
  
"You kids are the last hope for your world, unfortunately. Your CM disks can be read by the ship's computer, which will then use nano-foundries to construct the meks contained therein. You will be piloting them in defense of your world. We're the last hope for your world, and quite possibly the universe."  
  
"My name is Ami Weston. I am a- non-terrestrial human, is that what you said, Edd?" Ami turned to the sock-capped boy, who nodded. "My homeworld was destroyed by an invading force called the hive, who'd previously destroyed several other worlds beyond our own. They could easily be considered a swarm of locusts, devouring all of a world's resources, leaving a dead rock in place of what were once vibrant worlds."  
  
"I was genetically modified before I was born to have psionic capability, to be one of the elite Esper warriors of my world. For the most part, I'm telekinetic, but I do have some telepathic ability. Don't worry, though...I can't read your minds."  
  
"Like Kevin?" Ed piped up suddenly, and Eddy slapped his head. "Not this again, Ed!" Double D cried out. "For the last time, Kevin isn't psychic!" Kevin laughed, and Ami shrugged. "You never know, Double D," she sighed at last.  
  
"It's all about symbols," Kevin snorted from his seat. "You know the kind of symbols to associate with a person, and you can put a great guess as to what they're actually thinking."  
  
"Is that how you do it?" Eddy asked, genuine curiosity in his voice. Kevin nodded. "May I please continue, without interruptions?" Ami snapped, her exasperation apparent in her tone. The kids fell silent.  
  
"I'll brief you on what my people knew about the Hive's forces now, so you're prepared for what's to come. But first, if you'll hand me your CM disks, I'll slot 'em so the ship can begin building your mechs-"  
  
----  
  
Kevin sat in the room he'd claimed on the Polaris. He'd seen the Ed's mechs, but still didn't quite believe it. He caught himself thinking that the only time he'd believe it would be when he was behing the controls of the Prometheus Rex, fighting off Whips and Morays.  
  
He conciously shook himself, remembering what his Vietnam veteran father had told him about combat, about the horrors of watching your comrades die, while Charlie came crawling out of the woodwork around you, praying to god that someone would pull you into a foxhole...  
  
Another part of him kept saying was that this was one big scam, that the Eds were pulling the wool over everyone's eyes, everyone but Rolf. He'd been mildly surprised when Rolf had kindly declined to help them, saying that he wouldn't be much help, and that his current design wasn't much good. Kevin laughed aloud, for there was some truth in that comment: Rolf's 'mech' was more of a bicycle-powered Panzerkopf.  
  
He found himself swimming up to the surface of his thoughts when the knock on his door arrived. He looked at it for a long moment. "It's open."  
  
Eddy walked in, and plopped down in the sole empty chair. "So, what are they?" Eddy asked him. "Huh?" Kevin blinked, honestly having no clue as to what Eddy was talking about.  
  
"The symbols you use for your gusses. What are they?" Kevin blinked, then put some thought into it. "Oh. Those. Well, yours is a dollar sign, to represent your greed-"Kevin watched, looking as Eddy nodded. "Ed has a comic book for his symbol. For Sarah, it's a flame to represent her rage. Rolf, it's beet. Nazz has a piece of jewelry, usually a bracelet, while Jimmy has a unicorn. Johnny is, of course, symbolized by Plank. Double D's is that infernal hat. Why's he wear it anyway?"  
  
Eddy blinked, apparently coming out of his own thoughts. "His mom is usually the one who cuts his hair. It's pretty grusome." Kevin laughed, and shook his head. "I can sympathise. My dad cuts mine. He's an ex- marine."  
  
"Ouch. There was one other thing I wanted to ask." Eddy said, going from a grin to a somber face in mere moments. Kevin nodded. "And what's that?"  
  
Eddy stuck his hand out. "Truce?" Kevin looked at it and shook. "Truce. For now." Eddy nodded. "Pretty unbelievable, all of this." Kevin looked over at Eddy. "You actually seen our enemy?"  
  
"Only at a distance. I'm kinda glad we went back and got you guys." Kevin nodded in understanding. "Ami's cooking dinner, so you may want to leave the room eventually." Kevin laughed at the second statement, and grinned.  
  
"So what happened over breakfast?" Kevin asked. Eddy laughed. "Well, it started when Ed decided it was a good time to do his impersonation of Khyron from RoboTech..."  
  
----  
  
Rolf stared at the computer screen, and typed in another line of CMP code. He'd had a hard time wrapping his mind around the thought of an upright, walking combat unit. To date, he'd only seen decaying hulks of tanks left over from the second world war, when the Old Country had been blitzkrieged. His grandfather, the great Nano, had been lucky to escape being taken to a prison camp, and told horrible stories.  
  
Rolf didn't like to admit it, but sometimes he worried that's where the other kids would put him if he wasn't careful. His father assured him that imprisonment wasn't likely, but still, Rolf feared it in the pit of his gut.  
  
He typed in a few more lines, ignoring the distinct wooden click from the hallway behind him. He dearly wanted to fight, but his knowledge of weapons seemed so out of date. He glanced down at the book of basic codes, to double check his work.  
  
"Herr Rolf? Vhat is bothering you, my son?" Rolf turned at his grandfather's thickly accented english, the old man's childhood in Wallachia very evident in his tone.  
  
"Nano, may Rolf ask you something?" The old man nodded, the wooden cane clicking on the hardwood floor as his grandfather walked over to the extra chair and sat. "Rolf has been told of a great threat looming among the stars. His friends have been called upon to fight. Rolf fears that it may be a trap, to see him imprisoned. Yet Rolf also feels that he should help his friends..."  
  
"I see. I see." Nano was silent, raising a thin hand, stroking the greyed beard on his thin face. Rolf watched his grandfather, for the first time truly seeing the great weight that the years had put upon his shoulders, the waining strength of this once-great man.  
  
"Herr Rolf, if this threat among the stars is real, then you needn't worry about imprisonment. Your friends would be loyal I would think, simply because this effects all of us, no matter vhat they believe, or vhere they came from. Ve are one race, united against such a threat. Ve may be of different colors, different creeds, but ve are one race." His grandfather laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder, smiling gently. Rolf felt the smile returning to his own face.  
  
"Oh! If you should go to fight, I have something for you." Nano reached into the breast pocket of his white shirt, withdrawing a small steel cross attatched to a blood red ribbon. The cross glistened somewhat dully, it's great age apparent in the worn steel. "This has been passed down in our family since the days of Prince Vladimir. I want you to carry it, as a reminder of our family strength, the strength that flows in your veins."  
  
Rolf clutched the cross tightly in his hand. "Thank you, grandfather." His grandfather nodded, and rose, walking out of the room. Nano paused in the door and looked back at Rolf. "I wish you the best of luck, Rolf Dracul Tepes." 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Hours had long since passed. Rolf sat in front of the computer, staring. He had the basics of what he'd thought he'd need, but couldn't find a form to put it in.

The soft click of his grandfather's cane caused Rolf to jump. He turned. "Grandfather! You are still up?"

Nano smiled at his grandson. "Ja, my son. I am indeed still up. I vas thinking you might need some, ah, inspiration." Nano produced a small book and gave it to Rolf. "These are the tales from the old Country, the tales the Elders of our village told. Vhen I was your age, my father told me these tails to inspire me. I wrote them all when he died. I hope they inspire you."

Rolf took the book. "Thank you, Grandfather." His grandfather left the room, and Rolf started reading.

"Drache..." he whispered moments later. Inspiration hit him. He whirled back to the keyboard to type.

-----------

Ami arrived at the Polaris the next day to find an unshaven Rolf sitting in the lounge sipping a steaming cup of _cawfee_. "Ah. Rolf bids you good morning, Miss Weston." Ami blinked once, then twice.

"Rolf? Shouldn't you be at home doing chores?" Ami looked the boy over, promptly wondering how long he'd been there. The other kids had told her that Rolf had a hard time wrapping his mind around the basic concept of mecha as a whole.

"No, no, Rolf is good. Father has taken over Rolf's chores for the duration of the, ah, crisis." He gestured towards the hangar bay. "I have, how do you say, punched a new mech?"

"I think you mean program, Rolf." Ami smiled. "Is it finished?"

Rolf gestured to the bay, and Ami took a peak. What she saw astounded her. Rolf's new mecha was like a four-pointed star in shape, the massive panels resting soundly on the ground. A single turret rested on top, while another could be seen through the gaps in the panel.

"You like, yes?" Rolf asked, starting Ami out of her temporary fugue. "Rolf," she asked, her voice coming back to her in a rush, "What is this?"

"Rolf calls it the Drache. Micro-fusion power plant, anti-gravity propulsion, how do you say, dual fusion cannons on top and bottom, atmospheric re-entry capability, specialized shields...." Rolf trailed off, noticing Ami's befuddled gaze.

"How long did this take you to build?" she asked incredulously. Rolf thought. "Until midnight," he responded, "Which is why Rolf drinks the forbidden bean juice."

Ami blinked again, then nodded. "Well," she said after a long silence, "We'll see what the others think."

------------

Kevin looked at the Drache with an arched eyebrow. "Well," he said, being as blunt as he could, "It's probably faster than my clunker."

Rolf looked at Kevin, who returned the gaze. "I'm jealous, dude. This thing's probably quicker than Double D's or Eddy's mechs."

Eddy nodded in agreement. Ed hugged it. "It is squishy, just like mashed potatoes." Double D chuckled, and turned to Rolf. "It's a fairly light mech, Rolf, probably best used in hit and run attacks, rather than stand up fights." Rolf nodded at the advice.

Sarah and Jimmy simply looked at their own mech. Ami had been a little bit skeptical about allowing them to use their usual CM mech. She'd seen combiners in combat before, when pilots panicked, but the two youngsters seemed to have enough of a rapport that it wouldn't be much of a problem.

Kevin's mech, the Prometheus Rex, was massive, taking up almost an eighth of the bay. It outweighed any of the other mechs, and in a straight up firefight, could punch holes through a battle cruiser. The big problem was that Kevin would be relying on the other kids for support, because the Polaris itself had better handling.

Eddy slapped Kevin on the back, heading for the Guardian. The kids looked around and grinned.

Nazz stood by her mech, the GX-234 Calnus. The Calnus was the only female-styled mech in the bay- even Ami's Crufix looked pretty androgynous. Ami smiled. "All right, let's get moving. Everyone out."

The kids shuffled out of the bay, and Ami lead them to the bridge.

As the Polaris lifted off, only Ed's trumpeting "war cry" could be heard:

"Up, up, and to gravy!"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_-Unidentified mecha approaching-_

_The words traveled through the fiber optics lining the walls of the_ Eternity_, before arriving in Bowman's mind._

_Out of habit- human habit- he spoke._

_"Show me."_

_The image appeared in his mind, but he felt like he was seeing with his eyes, eyes that had long since ceased to view anything at all. The millennia had not been kind._

_Long range scans reveal a single gestalt mecha, two transformables, four non-transformable, and one psi-mech-_

_"Elaborate: Psi-mech."_

_Design appears to be a modification of an Algolian b-47 space infantry mecha-_

_"A possible prototype for the Metal Storm project?"_

_Bowman frowned at this thought. The Algolian's Metal Storm project was supposed to be a psychic powered super weapon, capable of destroying the Hive's forces. It should've vanished along with Algol, but it had been noted that Algol's moon- Zion- had vanished shortly before bombardment began…_

_Inconclusive evidence allows for an estimation of 64-_

_"Launch type ones and twos. Move Element Iridium in to screen Element Core."_

_-It is done-_

* * *

The Polaris drifted closer, the kid's mechs out no more than a few kilometers ahead.

"All's quiet on the western front," Kevin muttered in a somewhat sour tone. "Jeez, Kevin, lighten up," Nazz admonished.

"Sorry. Just tense."

"We all are," Ami broke in, "But we should be paying-"

"We've got company!" Ed shouted, causing every one of the kids to attempt to cover their ears through their various helmets.

"Watch the volume, lumpy!" Eddy snapped, earning a snicker from Sarah and Jimmy. "Rolf sees them, too. Small, quick moving-"

"Whips and morays. Stay sharp. These things are small, fast, and always travel in crowds."

Rolf yanked back on the Drache's control stick, slamming the mech almost to a dead halt, and swung it's twin fusion cannons around. The cannon's pulsed rapidly, and several of the small, blade-like mecha died under the onslaught.

"Rolf thinks we may be in trouble."

The Drache swiveled, moving into an almost horizontal position. Rolf's fist slammed down on the button for his shields, and the Drache roared off-

heading straight into a crowd of morays.

* * *

Ami's eyes widened watch Rolf's mech hurtle into the thick of things. "Rolf!" She cried out, "No!"

Crufix jinxed to the left, and shot off after the Drache, with Eddy reconfiguring to fighter mode and taking off after her.

Rolf's mech slammed into and through a hoarde of enemy mecha. "Oh…wow…" Ami said, stopping up short. Eddy's guardian finished shifting into battaliod mode and drifted beside her.

"Who knew he had it in him?" he asked Ami, as Rolf's howling battle cry echoed through the comm lines.

"We'd better help. He could easily be overwhelmed."

"No prob." The guardian fired its thrusters, moving back. Panels shifted, and in a great plume of smoke, two dozen mini-missiles launched, arcing into the hordes of the Hive's mecha forces.

Ami whirled Crufix around, crushing another group of whips with a telekinetic blast.

* * *

_-Enemy forces are breaching blockade wall. Contact with Element Iridium in t-minus 90 seconds. Iridium Overmind requestes permission to launch type fours-_

_Bowman frowned. These amatures were better than he'd thought. Though he'd managed to separate the gestalt mech- a feat in and of itself- the battle was still going poorly._

_"Permission granted. Bring our type two battleships up to fire on the enemy. Slave them to Iridium command. Give Iridium Overmind my compliments, and order him to slay all who would stand in our way."_

_-By your will, overlord.-_

* * *

Sarah and Jimmy backpedaled ducking just under Nazz's helpful cover fire. They were the first to spot the massive reinforcements.

"Ami!" Sarah shouted, and in the distance, she watched the Crufix swing around to look where Sarah's mech was pointing.

"Valkens! Heads up, they're deploying the big guns-"

"In more ways than one!" Kevin cut Ami off, the Prometheus Rex pulling back from the core of the massive melee. "I count at least a dozen huge guns being brought up!"

"We're out gunned! Fall back! We've gotta withdraw, now! Back to the Prometheus! MOVE!"

* * *

_-Enemy mechs withdrawing. Iridium Overmind reports a firing solution on the enemy carrier-_

_"Send them to hell." Bowman smiled grimly._

* * *

The withdraw of the kids from the battlefield was a sort of organized chaos. The kids headed for the bridge, Ami in the lead. "We've gotta find cover! Those blasted gunships'll gut the Polaris in no time!"

"The moon would be the closest option, Ami, but I fail to see-"

The deck leapt up beneath their feet, cutting Double D's tirade off. Nobody needed to be told what was happening. The enemy gunships were firing. "Moon's fine! Book it!" Eddy snapped in a panicky manner.

Ami slammed the coordinates into the helm, and the Polaris wildly wheeled around and jetted off.

* * *

_-Enemy ship withdrawing. Persue?-_

_"No." Bowman shook his head, thin features looking suitably like those of a father speaking to his wayward son. "We must conserve our resources for the time being."_

_-Understood-_

* * *

The Polaris shuddered as it touched down on the lunar surface. "Odd," Double D muttered, "With our total weight, we ought to have sunk clear to the keel-"

The ship shuddered again, and everyone began to feel as though they were descending.

"What on Earth?" Double D whispered softly, and Kevin looked at him.

"Dude, I think Earth has very little to do with it."

* * *

"What is this?"

Double D's question echoed through the lit corridor the kids stood in. The Polaris stood behind them, a few inches deep in lunar dust.

"Somebody made a base, it looks like. Ami?"

"Nuh-uh. This isn't one of ours. I don't recognize this writing at all. It doesn't look Algolian."

Double D glanced back at the blue-haired girl. "Algolian?"

"Yeah. You know, Algol? Hiigara? Home?" Ami glanced confusedly at Double D.

"But…we evolved on Earth, Ami…" Edd faltered. "Could this be an artifact of the people who put us here?"

Ami shrugged, and Double D glanced at the writing. "Looks like a cross between Japanese kanji and ancient cuniform…"

Double D walked inside. "Best I can tell, it's called the Drome…"

* * *

_Deep in the depths of space, a starship burst into existence. Older than either Algolian or Terran civilization, the ship's sole remaining passenger slept._

_Over the aeons, the crew and their families had died, one by one, as hypersleep systems failed. Now, where their had once been hundreds, there was one._

_These were the remains of the people who had spread human life through the galaxy, had given rise to the Mechanoids, the Varuta, and the Protodevlin. They were the renegades who hadn't followed Bowman into evolving into the Hive, the remnants of a race that most galactic civilizations called the Protocultures._

_The ship's ancient fold drives burst into life, catapulting it through space-time to a small world circling a yellow star; a star that sat in what it's inhabitants called the Orion arm of the galaxy….._


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The Drome was, upon further investigation, rather well stocked.

Double D's estimation that the base dated back to the same time the Roman Republic was founded surprised Kevin, but Eddy had immediately started claiming rooms for himself.

"I think we're all going to need a room, Eddy…" Double D pointed out, with acid in his tone.

"You get the basement!" Eddy grinned, and Ami smacked the stocky boy on the back of the head hard. "Try again, Eddy. We get one room apiece." She admonished him, and Eddy looked hurt, then started sulking.

"Fine…" he muttered, kicking at the floor with little success. Kevin snickered, and Rolf even allowed himself a chuckle. "Come on, Rolf, let's go find the kitchen. I'm feeling peckish."

Rolf nodded and followed, and Ami allowed herself a look around. "Looks nice enough…" she muttered.

Double D grinned, and Ed just looked around about as thoughtfully as he ever did.

Darkness bent itself inside out. Time warped, and the ship emerged from the null-space it had traveled through.

Massive, at least by human scale, it belted through the night and into the inner Sol system.

No signal from the base. Power was on, and lifeforms detected…

Automated systems as old as time itself sent out a coded signal…

Double D forced the ancient hatch open. "Looks like the control center." Ami followed him closely, and Ed followed her in turn.

"Man, I've never seen anything like this…" Ami said, awe lowering her voice to that of a stage whisper. Ed poked at the control panels. Ancient dust drifted in the flickering half-life.

Suddenly, one of the consoles lit up. "We get signal!" Ed burbled happily. Before either Ami or Edd could stop him, he'd tapped the console's top. A large, holographic display lit up. "Main screen turn on!"

"Ed, please, that's so cliché…" Double D trailed off, looking at it. "An automated beacon? From a ship?"

He looked at Ami, thinking he may have mis-translated it, but Ami nodded. "Looks like it. Let's go grab it."

She turned and jogged out of the command center, barely avoiding the door. Ed and Double D followed closely behind.

* * *

"This had better be important."

Kevin's growl certainly had its reason. He and Rolf had barely begun eating when Ami had dragged them back to the Polaris.

"There's another ship out there. One this base recognizes. We've got to get it back here before the Hive gets a hold of it." Ami looked at him sternly, and Kevin suppressed a groan.

"All right. But this had better be worth it."

Ami nodded. "If something this old recognizes it, it'll be worth it…"

Kevin shook his head. Ami talked about the base almost as if it were….alive or something.

* * *

_-Craft incoming.-_

_"Algolian?"_

_Negative. Scans make it to be a Republic-class fold capable gunship.-_

_"A Republic class? Any ID transponders?"_

_-Negative.-_

_"Markings?"_

_Pre-evolution Republic.-_

_"Interesting…Destroy it. The Protoculture's technologies are ours alone."_

_-By your command.-_

* * *

The journey was rather uneventful, Kevin noted. Nonetheless, Ami had kept him and Eddy ready to launch on a moment's notice

"Launching!" Eddy's voice came, and Kevin blinked. "What's going on?"

"Stage one vessels closing! You and Eddy launch. Double D and Ed are scrambling now. The rest of us are going to get the tow cables affixed. Keep the enemy away from the cables until we're ready to get out of here."

Kevin swore under his breath, and punched the Prometheus' thrusters to maximum, feeling its incredible weight dip behind him as he left the Polaris' flight deck.

Kevin looked, and immediately turned pale. Shifting the Prometheus into battloid mode, he swept the massive mega cannons, devastating dozens of enemy units.

"Eddy, get over here! I can't deal with 'em all!"

"You think I'm able to?" Eddy's voice drifted back through the tac net.

Kevin spared a glance, and saw Eddy was being swamped by hoardes of Morays. He spared another pare of M-Cannon shots, before spinning around on one of the two ships that was there.

Ed swung by, beam cannons blazing, buying Kevin the time he needed to set his shot up. "You. You annoy me. Go away."

Shunting as much power as he could spare, he fired two full powered M-Cannon bolts at the capital ship, which slowed, then tilted before it was consumed from the massive energy bolts that ripped armor and circuitry asunder.

Kevin permitted himself a soft "heh" before turning his attention to besieged wingmates.

* * *

"Ami?" Sarah asked, as the older girl swept her hands over the grappling controls. "Biting the hand that feeds us, I swear…" Ami muttered in response.

The Polaris swept low over the derelict craft and launched massive tritanium cables, which caught hold of the unknown craft. "Nazz, Sarah, turn us around! Get us back to the Drome!"

The two girls lept to their respective tasks, and the Polaris banked about in a hard turn, the cables straining with their massive load.

The Hive forces promptly gave chase.

* * *

Eddy and Double D were running out of ammo. The running battle was taking far, far too long for their liking.

The Guardian's autocannon was nearly out, it's two other clips long since expanded. He was down to a dozen missiles, from nearly sixty.

Double D's plasma launchers were slowly running dry, capacitor's being fired rapidly enough that they were not being allowed to recharge.

Kevin wasn't having much of a better time. The lighter, faster units were constantly swarming him, forcing Ed to keep him covered.

"Can't get a lock on the cap ship…Too many light units…" Kevin growled as they approached the Drome.

* * *

Ancient circuits whirred to life. The Drome's AI came fully online. Friendly units were in danger; defense systems sprang to life.

Meters of fine dust were shifted as massive turrets rose from hidden silos and sub-surface hatches.

Laser fire erupted, cutting the unsuspecting Hive forces to ribbons.

"What the-" Kevin cut off, throwing the Prometheus backwards, dodging massive energy bolts springing up from the lunar surface.

"The base is giving us cover…" Ami's voice filtered through in the racket.

"Yeah, fine. Can we land now?"

* * *

_-Expeditionary force lost.-_

_"What? How?"_

_-Uknown.-_

_Bowman thought for a long, bitter moment._

_"Let them go. We'll see how they destroyed our forces another day. Continue preparations for the assimilation of this star system."_

_-Affirmative.-_

* * *

The ship was massive- easily a third again the size of the Polaris- and heavily damaged.

The corridors were abandoned. "Reminds me of when we first found the Polaris," Ed said in a rare moment of lucidity.

Eddy allowed himself a chuckle at the comparison, and Ami giggled. Double D didn't seem to notice, but then nobody saw the grin that crawled up one side of his face.

"All right. Ed, Ami, take that left corridor. Eddy and I will go right, and we'll meet back here in half an hour."

The group split up, and Eddy glanced around. "Expecting another cryo-tube?" Double D laughed. "As a matter of fact, Eddy, that's precisely what I hope to find-" He glanced in a side room, and turned back to Eddy. "In your own words, Eddy, Jackpot!"

Eddy grinned and followed Double D in.

"Let's see…." Double D tapped the sole operational cryo-tube. He looked around, and frowned. Obviously, the systems had been disrupted- most of the tubes were suspending only dirt by this point, only two tubes held living people- two girls, one about the Ed's age, and another who looked to be about Sarah's age. And of those, only the older girl's tube was operational.

The tube hissed open, hatches sliding to the side, and the girl coughed, once, twice, three times and fell forward into Double D's arms.

Edd blushed and held her upright, and she coughed a couple more times before looking up into Double D's eyes. Their eyes met. Double D felt his blush deepen as he looked at her.

Her features were delicate, almost elven in a way, and her sea green eyes contrasted her purple hair nicely.

She shot up right. "Lyric?" she looked at the younger girl's tube, and immediately paled. "Oh, no, Lyric!" She grabbed the hatches and tried to force them open.

"'S not gonna work," Eddy muttered to Double D, "We need an expert in breaking things." The short boy raised his voice and let out a yell.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED!"

The deckplate shook with the force of a small earthquake as Ed thundered into the bay, with Ami skidding in mere instants afterward. Eddy pointed the young girl's cryotube. "Open it up, big guy."

Ed threw Eddy a salute, gripped the lower hatch, and started pulling. Ami thrust out her hand, and the hatch shifted. First a few inches, then more.

Ed roared and something inside the large boy let go. Cryogen fluid spilled, metal buckled, and Ed tore the hatches clear from the frame. The girl pulled Lyric's limp form free of the fluid, and laid her on the deck.

"Come on, little sister…wake up…" the girl said. Ami knelt down and took her pulse. "It's faint…" Ami's hand produced a small pack from her bag, and she set it against Lyric's arm. There was a hiss, and Ami watched some chemical levels fall.

Lyric stirred, and Double D started in on CPR. Finally, Lyric's eyes fluttered open. "Oneechan?" she asked softly, her voice soft. The girl nodded and held Lyrics close.

Double D blinked, suddenly noting that it was odd that two girls who hadn't even been born on Earth would use Japanese honorifics.

The girl looked at him. "Th-thank you." Eddy smirked from where he stood against the bulkhead, and mouthed "Kodak Moment" to Edd.

"You're welcome, miss-"

"Echo. Echo Parino." Double D nodded and allowed himself a small smile, and nodded in return.

"Nice to meet you, Echo."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Eddy spun his Galliard around with a curse. Echo'd simply up and vanished off his radar, and nobody could find her.

"Double D? Kevin? Ed? Any of you see her? She couldn't have just.-" he cut off at the sight of the white, blue and pink jet flashing past a nearby asteroid. He glanced down at his radar, looked out again, and swore more vehemently than before.

"Mind the language, hotshot." Maiyumi Kamijo's voice filtered through the comm channel. Kevin chuckled.

"Can it, shovel chin. She's got Active Stealth on that thing." He glanced among the rocks again.

"Shouldn't have used stock models." Kevin cut in, his Drachen coming to a standstill nearby. Eddy only nodded.

"-Have a visual! She's all over-" Edd's pickup faded in and out. "-She got Ed! Damage is minimal, repeat-" Double D's pickup dissolved into static with Kevin's growl replacing it. Both mechs rocket to Double D's position, only to arrive an instant too late. Both swerved to avoid autocannon fire.

"Gotta do better than that, you _slackers_!" Echo's taunting came through loud and clear. Eddy had an instant to realize she'd slipped in behind him, and groaned as the pod's screens went dead. He pulled the headset off as the familiar "You have been annihilated!" scrolled over the main multi-function display.

"Game, set, match. Hatches are open, folks." Maiyumi sounded vaguely amused, and Eddy grunted as he hauled himself out of the Custom Mekton pod.

"I thought you said you didn't have much pilot training!" Kevin shouted across the floor of the arcade.

"I don't!" Echo replied tersely, adding "It's probably just the stealth system that makes it seem like that."

"Even so, that was an impressive display." Double D strode over and leaned against the wall with a sigh. "Taking all four of us out in so short a span..." Echo only shrugged, and Ami laughed as she descended the nearby stairs into the CM arena floor.

"So long as she doesn't encode any illegal weaponry." Maiyumi muttered from behind Ami, and Kevin rounded on her.

"It was only the one time, and only 'cause I'd heard of that Reynold creep's habit of cheating," Kevin snapped, bringing his hands up in a defensive gesture. Maiyumi sighed and shook her head.

"Don't remind me. Ugh, I'll never pull another all-nighter like that again." Maiyumi's right hand tugged through her neon pink bangs an a moment of frustration.

Echo leaned on Edd, who visibly began to shudder. "Huh? What're you talking about?" She asked, looking up at Double D for a long moment.

Double D, Ed, Eddy, Kevin and Maiyumi all connected with a single glance, each mentally trying to figure out how to explain the entire semi-convoluted series of events.

"In a nutshell-" Kevin started, but Ed interrupted.

"Kevin once used an illegal nuclear cannon during a tournament and reduced the defending cheaters to atomic gravy. Yum." Ed smiled dreamily. Kevin sighed again- a habit he'd gotten into lately- and frowned.

"It was a little more complicated than that, but that was what started it." Kevin leaned against the wall next to Edd. Echo frowned, and looked at Kevin over Edd's torso.

"Complicated how?"

Maiyumi piped up. "One of the opposing players had a history of cheating. Kind of guy who always has to be on top. Anywho, he'd had a friend slip in and hack the mainframe. Managed to do it without my knowing, or dad knowing."

"Figured it out when we started getting picked off in one shot by those cannons." Eddy muttered bitterly, and Kevin snorted in agreement.

"Yeah. So I broke out the Red Riot and vaporized the hilltop. And then I convinced the judges to give us a day to prove the other team had been cheating first." Kevin sucked in a breath, and looked at the far end of the arcade.

Ami rested her elbows on Eddy's head. The shorter boy frowned grumpily and muttered something unintelligible under his breath. "So...what happened?" she asked after a moment, and Echo nodded.

"I recruited another person from yet another team- her name was Maki, I think- and two friends of mine from the Technical Institute." Double D said with a frown.

"So the lot of us-" Maiyumi made a gesture indicating the three Eds, Kevin and herself- "go tromping down to the Peach Creek Technical Institutes's prestigious north hall and spend the next seventeen hours going over the code line-by-line. Finally found what we needed around seven-thirty the next morning."

"Must've taken a lot." Jimmy's voice piped down to them with a slightly annoyed tone. Maiyumi giggled at that statement.

"Hey, Jim. Yeah, it did. You got my brownies?" Maiyumi held her hand out, and Jimmy granny tossed a small Seran-Wrapped package that Maiyumi caught with one hand. "So, what did it take?" Ami asked an instant later, caught up in the tale.

Maiyumi thoughtfully chewed a bite of brownie, then swallowed it. "The entire North Hall computer lab, one of the main network nodes, two of the redundant ones, and a ton of patience."

"And six liters of Mountain Dew, two pots of coffee, two pizzas- delivered, of course- Chinese take out from down the street, and four jawbreakers apiece." Double D added in, with a grimace. "Ugh, messy messy messy..."

Jimmy, Ami and Echo all winced. "We're waiting," Jimmy cut in when his stomach stopped playing roller coaster at the thought of the Long Night.

"All right, Curly-Q, keep your pants on." Eddy stomped up the steps, the rest of the kids following. Maiyumi shook her head and walked back to the arcade's front desk.

---

"All right, I call this meeting of the Peach Creek Defense Force to order!" Double D said proudly amidst the smack noise of a bunch of kids slurping down brownies and Ed's humming Breaking Benjamin's 'Firefly' in the back of an abandoned van.

Johnny 2x4 chuckled. "So, what's the news, Double D?" Double D sighed and sipped at a thermos lid filled with milk.

"Well, sleeping arrangements for one thing." Double D tapped the thermos lid in a steady rhythm. "Eddy doesn't have room to house all three girls, and we can't leave Echo or Lyric at the Drome."

Lyric hummed in sync with Ed at the mention of her name, leading her older sister Echo to roll her eyes in exasperation.

"Lyric can stay with me!" Sarah shouted happily. "Double D, can I stay with you?" Ed asked around a mouthful of brownie, causing Edd grimace.

"Well, I don't think-"

"I'll roll out the cot and spare TV set." Kevin said, his head rising a bit. "Nothin' in my family's basement anyways." Ed smiled and promptly gave Kevin a hug that would have been fatal if it had been held a few seconds longer.

"Can I stay, Edd?" Echo asked, looking at Double D with a pleading expression while Kevin coughed and gasped up lungfulls of air behind her.

"I...guess so..." Double D said. Eddy frowned at the hesitancy in his friend's voice. "Nervous?" Eddy asked with a smartaleck grin. Double D frowned at him, and Eddy chuckled.

"Don't toy with me, Eddy-" Double D started, and Ami cleared her throat.

"Boys."

Double D set his cup down in the bright orange shag of the van's floor. "Second item concerns the Polaris." Double D tapped the flat screen computer that had been installed in the van.

"With the recovery of the Progenitor starship- Ed's ever-so-thoughtfully taken to calling it the Macross- we've been able to upgrade the Polaris substantially."

The screen flickered to a side-by-side comparison of the two starships. The Macross was over twice the length of the Polaris. "Why not simply move to the Macross?" Nazz asked, and it was Johnny who piped up. "'Cause it has no engines! Right, Plank?"

Ami laughed, and nodded. "They're right. The Macross' main engines were pretty much slag when it reached the Drome. It can't move at sublight speed. Heck, right now it can't even break lunar gravity."

Edd nodded. "Anyways, with Echo's help, Ami and I have adapted several systems to the Polaris."

The screen flickered again, showing a 'detail' view of the Polaris. "The addition of a small shield system should allow us to take the Polaris into combat without worry- barring, of course, failure of said shields."

Kevin nodded. "What else?"

"A new main gun- Echo said that it's called a 'Reflex Particle Cannon'. At least, it's a small one, but we can now effectively engage Hive capital ships. We also have an FTL comm array and a new, more efficient FTL drive."

Lyric and Sarah leaned in over the screen, and Jimmy leaned over them. Echo leaned them all back and sighed. "Told you we should've just-" she fiddled and hooked something in, and suddenly an image appeared in the air over the screen.

"Double D calls it a fold drive." Echo said leaning back.

"Anyways, it's faster than the hyperdrive." Double D concluded.

"So, why'd we come back here?" Sarah demanded. Rolf smiled sagely.

"So we're not missed."

Double D nodded. "And because the girls need to buy new clothes."

Nazz smirked. "Fine. But someone else has to go with us. Any ideas?"

Edd sighed and dug in his pockets. He came out with a small black bag. "All right, you all know the drill by now."

Ami, Echo and Lyric all arched eyebrows at Nazz. Nazz shrugged. "Red stone looses."

The four sat in silence as the remaining girl and the boys all picked a stone. "Three." Eddy said with finality. The kids all opened their palms.

"Oh, dear." Double D gulped. The sole red stone in the bag sat squarely in his palm.

"Ha! Guess you're stuck on shopping duty, sockhead!" Eddy crowed victoriously. Kevin's hand came up and smacked Eddy back into a seated position before the shorter boy had a chance to start his patented 'victory dance'.

"Seriously, Eddy, that's not cool." Nazz shook a solitary finger at Eddy. Eddy raised his hands in a defensive gesture.

"We may as well get going." Double D piped up before another argument could break out. Nazz nodded in agreement.

Edd sat slouched in a chair. Nazz was helping the girls try on outfits, and he had no intention of interfering in that process. And (More importantly) modesty forbid him to enter the girl's changing rooms.

His head raised at the sudden, semi-insistant poking. "You awake, Double D?" His eyes met Echo's bright blue eyes.

"I'm awake, yes." Edd glanced Echo over. She'd finally settled on a pair of blue jeans, an off-red t-shirt, and a sports jacket.

"So, tell me." Her hands produced a black beanie with a yellow stripe along the brim. She placed it loosely on her head. "Whatdya think?"

Double D buried his face in his hands. "Echo...please..."

"It doesn't look as cute on me as it does on you, I'm sure, but still, its nice, right?" Echo twirled around, and Nazz laughed. Edd found himself wishing he could die of emberassment right there in the store.

"Can we go home now?"

Edd's question was answered by Lyric's setting her stuffed Ryo-Ohki (_'Her cabbit'_, he corrected mentally) on his head. Echo stifled a giggle, and Double D tried again to will his heart to stop and spare him any further emberassment.

"All right you two, let's go. Poor Edd won't survive this much longer," Nazz quipped. Lyric hopped off her chair, the lower half of her face obscured by the plush cabbit's head. Double D sighed and stood up.

"Um...Double D?" Echo's query was soft, soft enough that Double D almost missed it.

"Hm?"

"Um...I kinda...found some stuff that I thought'd look nice on you..." Echo was blushing furiously. Edd blinked, not entirely sure what to say. He appreciated the sentiment, but still...

"I...suppose it wouldn't do any harm to try them on." Edd capitulated softly, and Echo smiled, dashing back into the changing room. She emerged with a vest and a pair of sunglasses.

"Oh, dear."

Eddy blinked. It wasn't every day that Double D sported something new. The vest was nice, he had to admit. A dark sea blue which Echo claimed set off Edd's brown eyes (A comment which had Double D's face turning the same shade of red as his regular shirt).

The sunglasses, though. Small, amber colored lenses hung at the tip of Double D's nose. It was a taste of flavor on Echo's part that nobody had considered, but truly enjoyed.

"Something wrong, Eddy?" Edd asked his stocky friend, who looked up. "Huh? Oh, no..."

Eddy sipped at the glass of juice that Rolf had thoughtfully provided. While the foreign boy's choice of meals was sometimes almost frightening, his skills at juicing fruit was beyond compare.

And Double D had helped to pasturize it so nobody would get sick, so what the hey.

The short boy's gaze traveled over the whole of Jonny 2x4's back yard, looking over everything. Rolf was just putting sausages on the grill with a smile, Jonny and Nazz were talking in one corner, Kevin was being chased around by Lyric and Sara (Heaven only knew _why_), Ed was watching clouds with Ami...And he, Echo and Double D were leaning up against the house.

Edd sagged nervously until Echo wandered over to help Rolf with the sausages, and Eddy chuckled. "You know, Double D, she's sweet on you."

"Ed-dy!" Double D gasped harshly, and Eddy laughed.

"Man, Sockhead! Lighten up! I think you two'd make a wonderful couple." Eddy sucked in a deep breath, trying to stifle his laughter.

"Oh, I suppose you're right...But still, I mean...why me? What could anybody possibly see in me?" Double D stared into his juice, and Eddy patted his shoulder in a jesture that struck the capped boy as both comforting and sarcastic.

"Must be somethin' special, Double D. I mean, there are worse choices out there, right?" Eddy's tone was lighthearted, but Edd caught just how serious Eddy was being. He supressed an instinctive shudder at the thought of Marie Kanker.

"True. I guess we'll see, right?" Double D managed a shaky grin as Echo strode back over.

"Yeah...speaking of worse choices, has anyone seen those three lately?" Eddy asked arching an eyebrow.

"Not since Principal Antonucci caught them harassing us." Double D pointed out. Eddy winced in memory. It took precious little to strain the temper of the school's principal, but nobody could remember seeing him _that_ angry in a long time. Inside of an hour of being caught, the Kankers had been ushered into the school's administrative offices, interrogated, expelled and arrested for stalking and harassment. Then the court system had sentenced them to mandatory therapy and over a year's community service.

Double D felt a little guilty about it- the girls hadn't _actually_ meant any harm-but he was still dealing with the memories the Kankers had left.

"Hrm."

"_Towers. Awaken."_

"_You called, my master?"_

"_Your sarcasm is uncalled for."_

_An image of an arrogant smirk appeared in Bowman's mind. "Apologies, sir. What do you ask of your horsemen?"_

"_I ask for you to dispose of those who oppose us."_

"_Oppose us? Your need of us as a vanguard hasn't been needed in centuries. Who are they that they need a more...personal touch?"_

"_They posses Protoculture technology."_

"_The technology of the olden ones? How is this possible?"_

"_A cruiser, fleeing the massacre at the start of this. Destroy them, and the technology they posses, and I will give you this pathetic planet you once called home."_

_Another image, of moonlight glowing off a knife blade. "I ask for nothing more than blood to fulfill my thirst."_

"_Then go."_

"_Death rides this night, Bowman, to ply his trade."_

_Hive Mothership Saractis_

_Inside Mars Orbit_

"Awaken, my riders!"

A hatch on the Saractis' outer skin wheeled open. Four mechs stood within, the four Riders of the Hive fleet.

The most massive mek, a black and silver affair stepped out to the airless void. "Come, my riders, my fellow horsemen!"

The other mechs followed suit, blasting toward Earth.

"The four demons appear again, tonight!"

Time turns, ignoring such things as the Hive's vanguard launching. It ignores the children of a particular cul-de-sac in the suburb of Peach Creek who sleep in their own beds for another night, ignores the oncoming results of a war that must be won.

It also ignores small surprises, crossing the void at speeds that Earth's physicists could only sputter in surprise at.

"Mmmmmnnnnnhhhh...What?" Ami rolled over and glared through slitted eyes up at the Eds.

"Message for you, on the Polaris." Ed said happily, and Ami bolted upright, hair and pajamas in serious disarray.

"A message? From who?"

"You'd probably be better off watching for yourself." Eddy admitted nervously, and wandered out the door.


End file.
